Thai official: 4 boys brought out of cave Monday

The Thai Navy Seal unit celebrated the successful rescue of members of the Wild Boars football team, writing on their official Facebook page: "2 days, 8 Wild Boars".

A helicopter flies towards an airstrip near Tham Luang Nang Non cave to transport the fifth boy rescued from the cave to hospital on July 9, 2018 in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

The head of the rescue mission, Narongsak Osottanakorn, said last week they would bring the fittest people in the group out first. An Australian doctor stationed in the cave has kept a lookout for days, and was among the last to be extracted.

Among those are USA military partners, British cave diving experts - including the two men who first located the boys a week ago - and rescue workers from Australia, China and other countries.

The missions were also a race against the weather. Since then, an global team of engineers, rescuers and divers has been delivering supplies and food to the children and their coach ― and mulling ways to best help them escape.

"It's very likely that while the boys were in the cave but not yet discovered by rescuers that they experienced various degrees of anxiety, fear, confusion, vulnerability and dependency, and perhaps hopelessness", said Paul Auerbach, of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University's medical school.

The extraction of the four on Monday followed a similar pattern to the previous day, with the youngsters emerging in quick succession just before nightfall after navigating a treacherous escape route of more than four kilometres.

Heavy rain soaked the area overnight, increasing the risks in what has been called a "war with water and time" to save the boys.

The 12 young footballers and their coach became trapped in the Thiam Luang cave two weeks ago due to rising water after they entered the cave made it impossible for them to escape.

Four boys were previously pulled from the cave on Sunday.

He said the next phase of the operation will resume in between 10 and 20 hours - probably late Monday morning or afternoon - as rescuers have to replaced empty compressed air tanks and perform other maintenance on the rescue system.

Narongsak said rescuers would meet Monday evening to plan for the next operation.

Narongsak said 13 foreign divers and five Thai navy SEALs took part in the key leg of the rescue: taking the boys from where they have been sheltering and through dark, tight and twisting passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents. They were all treated for rabies, in case of bats in the cave, and tetanus, and set up with IV drips.

Another video from Thai PBS showed an ambulance arriving at the hospital in Chiang Rai.

But although the eight were rescued, there were concerns they may have contracted an illness while in the cave. "The world soon loses interest and moves on to the next story, so it is extremely important that these survivors not be forgotten and be closely monitored so that they can receive the best possible support".